By Ian Buruma
For 8 years the president of the USA was once a born-again Christian, subsidized by means of well-organized evangelicals who frequently appeared rationale on erasing the church-state divide. In Europe, the expanding variety of radicalized Muslims is growing common worry that Islam is undermining Western-style liberal democracy. or even in polytheistic Asia, the advance of democracy has been hindered in a few international locations, relatively China, by way of a protracted historical past during which faith used to be tightly associated with the state.
Ian Buruma is the 1st author to supply a sharp-eyed examine the tensions among faith and politics on 3 continents. Drawing on many modern and ancient examples, he argues that the violent passions encouraged by means of faith needs to be tamed for you to make democracy work.
evaluating the USA and Europe, Buruma asks why such a lot of Americans--and so few Europeans--see faith as a support to democracy. Turning to China and Japan, he disputes the suggestion that simply monotheistic religions pose difficulties for secular politics. eventually, he reconsiders the tale of radical Islam in modern Europe, from the case of Salman Rushdie to the homicide of Theo van Gogh. Sparing nobody, Buruma exposes the follies of the present tradition battle among defenders of "Western values" and "multiculturalists," and explains that the construction of a democratic ecu Islam isn't just attainable, yet necessary.
offering a problem to dogmatic believers and dogmatic secularists alike, Taming the Gods powerfully argues that faith and democracy should be compatible--but provided that spiritual and secular specialists are saved firmly apart.
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Extra resources for Taming the Gods: Religion and Democracy on Three Continents
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